Page 257 - Nicolaes Witsen & Shipbuilding in the Dutch Golden Age

ping. Witsen himself hints at the circumstances that drew him to this subject. In the first edition, of 1671, he specifically mentions his father, who had died only shortly before in 1669: “Never would I have dared take up the part of this work on the modern shipbuilding, had not come into my hands some basic principles and drawings made by my late father Cornelis Witsen in the pa st.” Apparently Cornelis’ interest in ships had gone beyond the value of their cargo. In the sec- ond edition Witsen writes: “and th at which I h ave added, I h ave derived from the mouth and des ign of fine Masters: because I do not claim myself to be a shipwright or sailor in practice.”4
Nicolaes Witsen was indeed not a shipwright or sailor, but he was fi rst and foremost an inquisitive man. Throughout his life he studied all kinds of subjects with great tenacity. As a l aw student in L eiden, he di splayed more interest in subjects like Oriental languages and ethnology and in mathematics and physics rather than law. Nevertheless, he suc cessfully completed his law studies and graduated in 166 4. As became a patric ian’s son, he m ade a long j ourney after his studies. While most young men of his age went on a grand tour to the south of Europe, Witsen joined an official legation of the Dutch States General to Mos- cow as a so-called edelman van staat, a position given to privileged young men to gain some experience in international affairs. This position afforded him the opportunity to look around and meet all kinds of people. He ret urned in 1665 and compiled an extensive travel account of his voyage in manuscript.5 Shortly after his return from R ussia, Witsen departed again, this time for Fr ance and Italy, and in 1668 and 1671 he visited England. In France and England he studied the local shipbuilding practices.6
The rest of his life Witsen’s interest in Russia never abated, and he c ollected an enormous amount of information on the country and its people and remained in touch through correspondence with many leading figures in the country. This enabled him to edit the best map of his day of eastern Russia, including the largely unknown region of present-day Siberia and Central Asia. This map is, in fact, a large wall map in six sheets, printed in 1687 at Witsen’s own expense.7 Not long after, in 1692, he finished a 600-page treatise on the same area and had it printed, also at his own expense. Written as a companion volume to the wall map, Noord en Oost Tartarije . . . (North and East Tartary) is now also extremely rare: only five copies are known to exist.8 Although the book and the map were clearly meant for pub lication, the printed sheets were never bou nd and put on the market. Perhaps this was because Witsen wanted to add more information to the book. He claimed he had trouble with the engravers and wanted additional maps drawn up, which were not yet complete. He also complained that he never seemed to have the time to really finish this magnum opus.9
Witsen’s influence in the Netherl ands and hi s interest in R ussia made him an ideal contact for the Russian czar Peter the Great, who wanted to modernize his country and gain ideas by trav eling abroad. When the czar toured western Europe, Witsen organized his lengthy stay in the Netherlands from August 1697 until June 1698.10 This provides another clue to the r arity of the book: the l arge wall map and the fi rst edition were dedic ated to the cz ar, and Witsen clearly wanted to present it to him in person durin g the visit. Peter also urged him to continue to expand hi s study. Witsen received so muc h new inform ation from the delegates of the Russian legation that he probably held back the publica- tion of the 1692 edition himself.11 In 1705 a much enlarged edition of 986 folio pages was printed. But again Witsen waited, wanting to add more material and
Variations on Witsen
239